The iPhone 6 is a few years old now. However, its 2014-era, 8-megapixel camera is still enough to capture the hearts of judges in a photography contest.
That’s based on the recent Friends of the Columbia Gorge photography contest, held in Portland, Oregon. Despite the professional camera equipment used to shoot many of the entries, the Grand Prize was awarded to a moody image shot using an iPhone 6.
Snapped by Colleen Wright of Lake Oswego, Oregon, the winning picture is an evocative shot of blackened trees in the morning fog. It was taken along the Nick Eaton Ridge trail, and shows the aftermath of a devastating 2017 fire in the region. It was snapped on September 3 last year.
“The clouds were on the ground the day the photo was taken,” said Wright. “Everything was cool, wet and misting, perfect. As we neared the junction to Nick Eaton Ridge and the cutoff trail, the sun was slowly burning through the mist, creating magical light and enhancing the mysteries of the blackened and burned trees.”
“This moody image evokes both the devastation of the Eagle Creek fire, while hinting at the resilience of the forest, as the sun cuts through the mist, and patches of green are revealed in the ground cover on the hillside,” said contest judge Vince Ready.
Entrants into the contest had to submit photos in one of five categories. These included Cultural (photos focusing on human activities and creations), Scenic, Wildlife, Wildflowers, and Youth Photographer (under age 18). You can check out the other winning entries here.
The rise of iPhone photography
The iPhone has continued to prove itself as one of the world’s most popular camera.
Just yesterday, we reported on the decline of camera sales for February this year, versus this time in 2018. The appeal of the iPhone’s camera is obvious. Not only can it offer a quality of image that is comparable with a dedicated DSLR (at least, for most users), but it’s also a device that people carry everywhere with them. As a result, it’s a snapper that’s there when you need it.
iPhone photography is a big selling point for Apple, too. For the past few years, Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign has served to highlight just what is possible with Apple’s phone camera. This crowdsourced image campaign has been hailed as a “game-changer.”
